Dr. Tomas Hajek
Had someone told my childhood self that I would study medicine, I would have dismissed the idea. I was more interested in biology. Yet, I agreed that medicine would give me more career options. I went to study medicine at the First School of Medicine, Charles University Prague.
Had someone told my adolescent self that I would specialize in psychiatry, I would have been surprised. I kept looking for a research-intensive field and ruled out a number of options. Eventually I zoomed in on psychiatry. What could be more interesting or challenging, than to study the brain in its full complexity, as revealed by psychiatric disorders? After graduation in 1999, I joined a combined PhD, residency program at the Prague Psychiatric Center, with prof. Hoschl as my mentor.
Had someone told my PhD student self that I would move to Canada, I would have laughed. In 2002 I won a travel award from the Czech Psychiatric Association and used it to visit Dr. Alda in Nova Scotia. At the end of my one-month stay, I accepted a clinical research fellowship with Dr. Alda at the Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University .
I arrived in Halifax on September 30, 2003, the very day after the largest hurricane in the history of Nova Scotia (Hurricane Juan). Several months later, the city was hit by the biggest blizzard in the history of Nova Scotia (White Juan). I did not run for the hills. In 2005, I joined the Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University as an Assistant Professor, in 2009 became an Associate Professor and in 2015 a Full Professor of Psychiatry. I currently work at the Mood disorders clinical at Dalhousie University. With my wife Eva, we have two kids Sofie and Sam and very much enjoy our East Coast lifestyle. Seemingly with a complete lack of foresight, it all worked out great.
Interests: I am generally curious about everything. My more systematic interests include tennis (my kids are already more accomplished as both competed at Nationals, but I can still beat them, for now) and downhill skiing, including competing, working as a ski instructor, Cat or Heli skiing. I am addicted to traveling from backpacking in Peru, Thailand, Israel to road trips in Australia, California, Hawaii with my family and love to make travel videos and write journals about my travels. I am perhaps most interested in introducing my kids to the universe of wonders and possibilities our Earth has to offer.
Hajek Lab 